


Got You Back

by SnailWrites (SymbioteSpideypool)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 22:25:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5982766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SymbioteSpideypool/pseuds/SnailWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Colonel Rhodes had just found Tony, staggering around half-dead in the middle of nowhere. Some things need to be said, too bad they won't be heard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Got You Back

“There’s someone down there!” Somebody shouted over the noise of the helicopter.

Colonel James Rhodes looked out across the desert, picking out the lone set of tracks leading to a man waving his arms. As the helicopter lowered he could make out the grimy face of the man. “Son of a Bitch!” He swore in surprise.

He jumped out of the helicopter as soon as it touched the ground and half jogged to the man. The face looking back at him was none other than Tony fucking Stark. He’d been missing for months and suddenly here he was in the middle of nowhere.

Tony’s face melted into relief when he saw Rhodey. He collapsed into his friend’s arms, exhausted, and heard Rhodey say, “Next time you ride with me, buddy.”

He couldn’t help but grin.

The helicopter ride had been hell on Tony. The noise spit his head in two again and again and again. They gave him water and he drank like it was going to disappear if he didn’t hurry.

“Slow down there,” Rhodey shouted over the blades chopping the air. He grabbed the canteen from Tony and forced it down so Tony would take slower gulps.

Tony flinched at the sudden movement and tightened his grip on the canteen. Rhodey froze, then slowly let go as Tony paced himself.

Back at the outpost Rhodey carried his friend to the empty sickbay and laid him down on the standard rough military green blanket draped over a cot. Rhodey heard the others leave. Somebody gave a command to find a medic as soon as possible. Tony coughed a little, but smiled weakly, “Did ya miss me?”

Rhodey chuckled and brushed Tony’s gritty hair back. “You know I did.”

He sat down on the edge of the bed, his back to Tony as he took a deep breath. “I thought you were dead, and I didn’t know what to do with that.” He refused to meet Tony’s eyes. “But it made me realize something. It made me see that maybe I was just trying to… to brush it aside, but after all this craziness. After all this I don’t know if one of us will be dead next week or even in the next ten minutes. So I need to say this. Tony, you are my best friend. We’ve been through a lot together and I’m glad you let me into your life. I know we don’t always see eye to eye, but I believe you’re a good man, Stark. One of the best. And…“ He looked down at his hands nervously clutched together, “I love you.”

The silence in the room seemed to stretch out forever before Rhodey quietly asked, “Tony?”

He turned around to look at his friend, he had closed his eyes and drifted off, probably when Rhodey had started talking. No, something wasn’t right. There was a trickle of blood in the corner of his mouth and suddenly he realized that Tony wasn’t breathing.

He jumped up and started trying to resuscitate the still body. He screamed towards the entrance, “Where’s the medic? He’s not breathing!”

Somebody ran into the tent, and started tearing apart bundles in the corner, searching wildly for something. Rhodey watched, but didn’t stop screaming or pumping his friend’s chest. The woman grabbed a box and set it up next to Tony, prepping the defibrillator.

“Stand back!” she ordered, rubbing the two paddles together.

Rhodey hesitated, but stepped away.

“Clear!”

Thump. Nothing happened. She tried again, careful to avoid the dull metal lump in his chest.

“Clear!”

Thump. Nothing.

“Clear!”

Thump. Nothing.

He watched her try again and again and again. Tony arched each time, his body twisting painfully. But he never moved, never took a breath. Rhodey was still standing there long after the woman had sadly stopped, taken the time of death, and handed the information over to the medic that had just arrived.

The medic put a hand on his shoulder, “Colonel Rhodes?”

Rhodey nodded silently.

“There’s some paperwork I’d like you to fill out. I’ll leave it here, so don’t forget to pick it up on your way out.”

Rhodey didn’t move.

The hand left his shoulder. The medic rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry,” he said awkwardly. Then he left.

Rhodey was alone again.

“I just got you back,” he whispered. His teeth clenched as hot tears started to spill over his cheeks.

“You didn’t even hear anything I said,” he accused.

He ran the rough fabric of his sleeve over his eyes, getting sand in them and tearing up even more as he blinked furiously. He turned around and grabbed the stack of papers on the desk. He walked out of the tent clutching the papers and not even noticing the soldiers around him pretending not to see him cry.

He stopped suddenly, “What am I gonna tell Pepper?”

**Author's Note:**

> I know I know I know. I actually write a Tony/Rhodey fic and one of them dies halfway through the confession. I just wrote it after thinking how the hell is he not dead yet. Sorry it's so short.


End file.
